However, as Nat Turner (Parker) and his alcoholic oppressor, Samuel Turner – played by the stellar Armie Hammer, who lends careful depth to the role, we never know if he’s truly disturbed by what he sees, or if he’s been tainted by the nest of wealthy evil – travel the smokey, decaying white fortresses check-marked throughout the Southern lands, we see them both transform.
Advertisement
The accuser killed herself in 2012 and Parker declined to comment when specifically asked about apologizing to her family. “So respectfully, I want to say thank you again to the Toronto International Film Festival for allowing us to be here, and I want to continue celebrating the people that helped make this film possible”.
When asked about the reaction to her op-ed, Union said, “five percent feels I threw Nate under the bus, and five percent feels I’m a rape apologist”.
“There’s no one person that makes a film”, Parker said. “So I definitely don’t want to hijack this with my personal life”. Earlier at the press conference, Union said she had always wanted to be involved somehow in a film about Nat Turner: “I don’t care if I’m craft service or grip”.
“Birth of a Nation” swept all top categories at the Sundance Film Festival Awards in January, becoming only the fourth film to capture all of the festival’s highest honors.
She continued, “But I would say this movement that this film has inspired includes our issues”.
A junket interview between Nate Parker and a Canadian journalist was cut short after the reporter asked a question about how Fox Searchlight might have “changed their strategy” for The Birth of a Nation in the wake of Parker’s 1999 rape trial becoming a major news story. Whether it be voting – we have a big, massive voting drive – whether it be [dealing with] that person that may not be the most kind in his words when it comes to racial sensitivity, or whatever it is.
The Beyond the Lights actor was acquitted in the case.
As a film devotee, I see the private lives of movie creators as entirely separate from their moving images.
“Nation” has been one of the most talked about films of the Toronto Film Festival. The Washington Post’s Arts and Entertainment section declared, “Remember the name Nate Parker”.
“If you’re a decent human being who wants to take part in a conversation at the very least, about the things that bug the crap out of you, this movie is for you, and I hope you don’t sit it out”, Union told reporters.
Long before its Toronto showcase, “The Birth of a Nation” had appeared poised for award season accolades.
At the film’s TIFF debut on Friday, Parker and his cast were met with a standing ovation.
Gabrielle Union says the vast majority of people have been extremely supportive after she wrote an essay about her own rape. For the first part of the event the cast on stage mused on the impact of telling the story of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion, their characters, and the process of making the film.
Advertisement
Mr Parker, who spent seven years trying to get the movie made, reportedly invested some $100,000 of his own money in the $10m production, turning down multiple acting jobs to pursue his passion project.
